God Loves You!

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:

John 3:16 (NIV)

INTRODUCTION:

I am sharing on a subject this morning that we all need to know about, but also need to experience. It is something that will change our past, our present and redirect our future.

I have titled my sermon this morning: God loves you!!!!!!!!!!

Did you know that you and I are the focus of God’s affection?

Ian Loughor-Clarke

The love of God is an essential attribute and supreme expression of God’s personhood and is the capstone of His personality.

I find it an overwhelming and incredibly challenging task, trying to put into words this incredible reality. You and I cannot even begin to understand the greatness of God until we read: John 3:16 and even then we will never be able to fully understand God’s love. It consists of only one sentence. However, there is so much truth found in this sentence that I could share on if for the rest of the year and then still not do it justice. I will, however, try to give you a better understanding this morning as we have a look at some of the truths of God’s love.

A.W. Tozer once said, “I can no more do justice to this awesome and wonder-filled topic than a child can grasp a star. Still, by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. And so, I stretch my heart toward the high, shining love of God so that we may be encouraged to look up and have hope.”

John 3:16

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Do you know that the love of God is unlike any other love that we can experience? There is no other like it on this planet. It has been said that there is no greater love than a mother’s love, but this is not true because there has never yet been a mother who can love like God loves, nor a father for that matter. That amazes me, because I adore my children and kiss them and bite them and hug them and squeeze them every single day of their lives and tell them how much I love them all the time. Yet I still do not come close to His love. It is much greater, wider, stronger, deeper, higher, longer and bigger than the love of anyone, even a newly wed couple. This means that the love of God must be unusual, foreign and truly out of this world and that is what it is.

When you go through the New Testament, there are three primary words for love:

Eros ­ romantic love, erotic love etc.

Phileo ­ brotherly love, friendship love etc.

Agape ­ unconditional love.

We mostly focus on romantic or brotherly love in life. However God wants us to be like Him and love the way that He loves and that is to have an unconditional love. Now that is something in life worth striving for because it is the one thing worth pursuing; the deepest and most sincere love that there can be.

We normally love because someone is good to us or pleases us or makes us laugh or they are kind to us or because they’re good looking, and if not, then they do not receive our love. That means our love is conditional and that is not agape love and God wants that to change.

John 3:16

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The greatest Lover – for God

The greatest degree – so loved

The greatest company – the world

The greatest act – that he gave

The greatest gift – his one and only Son,

The greatest opportunity – that whoever

The greatest simplicity – believes

The greatest attraction – in him

The greatest promise – shall not perish,

The greatest position – but have eternal life

Let us have a careful look at some aspects of the Love of God.

1. GOD’S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL.

John 3:16

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

When it says the world, it means every single last person on this planet.

God’s love is the reason we exist and why He created us.

The Bible says in John 15:18 that the world hated Jesus 18, yet this does not change the love of God. If someone hates you, do you love him or her back?

I think we are very lucky, blessed or whatever word you would like to use, when you think about the fact that He does not love based on our love for Him or our moral lifestyle or our spiritual condition. No. He loves us because He chooses to love us and that is that. Period.